Unfinished
by AtLoLevad
Summary: He hated to do it. He really did, but Mystic Falls was no longer the place for him. Damon introspective after 404. She felt guilt. And she hated that she did. Elena introspective after 404. Her mouth says awful, but her eyes gleam like he's never seen before. Stefan introspective after 404. Actually complete this time.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I think everyone's feelings about 404 are pretty much well known by now. I'm not even sure where this one came from. It's a drabble type thing, and I'm kind of proud of it. So read and review and never give up hope for Delena. :D**

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He hated to do it. He really did, but Mystic Falls was no longer the place for him. Damon Salvatore was on his way out. The main thing keeping him here, the only thing really, was Elena Gilbert and she wouldn't give into her new vampire urges. Telling him one thing, and then saying the opposite to Stefan.

It killed him. He couldn't help her, wouldn't help her, unless she was willing to give in and commit. Damon had watched Elena's relationship with Stefan play out over the course of three years, thousands of ups and downs in between. He had remained quiet about his feelings and when he couldn't anymore, compelled Elena to forget his confessions.

Her words at the Murder House frat party had been the last straw. No matter what Damon did for her, no matter how much he looked after her, no matter how damn much he loved her; she would always go running back to Stefan.

Saint Stefan, Damon thought, the vampire who would end up sending Elena over the edge, causing her to shut off her humanity. Damon scowled to himself as he thought about how his brother treated Elena. Like a fragile doll that would break if looked at the wrong way, Stefan wanted to hide Elena away, protect her from becoming like him, like Damon. He would protect her so much, she'd snap one day, and go on a rampage, killing anyone in sight. And Damon, the only one who could stop her? Well, he'd be far away, away from Mystic Falls, away from Stefan, away from Klaus, away from her.

One day, he thought, throwing a few shirts into his duffel, one day, he'd come back. See what had happened to the town, to her. One day, he thought, when he had put enough time in between her words and his feelings.

Damon reached for a a pair of pants to throw them in the duffel, and the flyer from the frat party fell out of the pocket. He picked it at and stared at the words for a minute, two minutes, three minutes. He thought about Elena's face as they danced. About her breath on his face as she said, "I feel good." About her warm body pressed against his as they hugged.

Damon put the flyer down and placed the pants back on his bed. He took out the shirts one by one. He put the duffel away in his closet. He sat on the bed, head in hands.

He couldn't leave her just yet. His business with Elena Gilbert was unfinished.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, so I know I said the story was finished, but it felt unbalanced to me. It was off and it needed Elena's point of view. So this is the final chapter. Unless I decide to add in a chapter from Stefan point of view ;)**

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She felt a pang of guilt as she wrapped her arms around Stefan's neck in a hug. Even as Stefan told her she'd get through it, Elena knew she couldn't believe him. She wouldn't get through this, not with out _him_. And as that thought passed through her mind, she felt even guiltier.

So she pulled away from her boyfriend's arms and gave a wan smile that she knew didn't reach her eyes. She couldn't have the feelings she was having and stay in Stefan's arms. What scared her the most was that she liked them. She liked having these feelings; they felt new to her, new and exciting.

More guilt came as she realized that she hadn't felt like this with Stefan in a long time. Being with him became boring and predictable. And deep down she knew that Damon was right, that in order to control herself, she had to follow his rules. She couldn't live the way Stefan wanted her to live.

She had to live the way Damon lived. Revel in the kills, be able to laugh about it, or she would never survive. And she hated that she agreed with him. She hated that he was right. Most of all, she hated that she couldn't admit any of her feelings to either brother.

Sitting alone in her room, head in her hands, she thought about how her life would be different if she actually told Damon how she felt. She could see herself living, actually enjoying life, the way she had at that frat party. Thinking back on it, Elena realized, dancing with Damon at that party had been the first time she had truly smiled, truly been happy in a long time.

Her phone buzzed, a text from Stefan. A text that went ignored. Elena thought, _would I have answered if that had been Damon?_ She pushed the thought away, not wanting to acknowledge that the answer would have been _Yes._

For a moment, before she drifted off to sleep, Elena thought about leaving. Packing her bags and running away. Being a coward and leaving them all behind. She thought about asking Damon to come with her, thought about starting a new life with him. And then, as per usual, she pushed her thoughts away. She was with Stefan, she was happy with Stefan, was the mantra she repeated to herself.

As Elena Gilbert fell asleep, she realized that her business with Damon Salvatore was far from finished. In fact, it was just beginning.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I know, I know, I said it was done. Stefan kind of came barreling out of nowhere, intruding on my lovely DE. I felt that his point of view had to be included, just to see a little difference between him and Damon and the way they think about Elena. So now it's really done and I promise there won't be any more to this. **

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Her mouth says awful, but her eyes gleam with a brightness that Stefan Salvatore has never seen before. She pulled away from his arms and made an excuse to leave. He let her and she ran up to her room, leaving Stefan to let himself out.

Once he reached the porch, he realized that he couldn't go home. Not with Damon there. So he went to the Grill. He found a booth in the back and held his whiskey in his hands.

The look in Elena's eyes haunted him. Klaus' information about a cure haunted him. The sound of Rebekah telling Klaus to stake her haunted him. Stefan was haunted by everything around him. He spun the tumbler of whiskey in his hand and stared at the amber liquid.

The look in Elena's eyes, that gleam, that sparkle, the life behind her eyes, it was all something that was new to him. In three years of dating her eyes had never sparkled like that. They had never sparkled for him.

Damon. It was all Damon. The gleam, the life, it was all because of Damon. The older Salvatore was the cause of Elena's happiness. Stefan gripped the tumbler tighter. The thought of his brother making Elena so happy made him want to kill. He hated that this new Elena was so attached to Damon.

But the cure, the cure could change all of that. He and Elena could be human again, marry, have kids, and grow old. As soon as he found out exactly what it was he would make sure Elena took it. He would make sure she never had to be what she hated the most. She would be human again, and so would he.

Damon would just have to get over it. He could leave Mystic Falls; start over somewhere else, far away from Elena. Stefan took a sip of his whiskey.

This cure would be just what he needed to restart his relationship with Elena. It would be like the beginning again.


End file.
